You Snooze, You Loose.

So I briefly touched on the fact that the house we’ve selected was not our first choice. That’s ok, i’ve moved on. But I thought I’d write about it because it shows how fundamentaly different my husband and I are when it comes to shopping or picking something. I think most of you will identify with this too.

On our first outing, we bundle up the kids and look at 3 houses. Two are very small, but would suit our needs and the other was hands down the best option, new, large, good suburb, cul-de-sac for the cricket pitch (as you know it was an essential), and in an area which had brilliant facilities. Close to a pool, schools, daycare, gym and tennis courts, small shops and a YMCA. (Anyone who knows me will also know how much I use their facilities in Canberra).

I had already invested sentimentaly in the area because it was where I’d found a sign that reminds me of my mum. So Friday afternoon I was prepared to ring back the realtor and tell her we’d take it. But my husband was cautious. As it was the first house we’d seen that we really liked, he wants to compare with others. He wants to shop around. I don’t really do shopping around. I don’t have time. If I am with kids, I can’t drag them to half a dozen shops to find the best price, only to trapse them back to the first shop which had the best price all along. And if I am childfree and shopping, my view is that if I see something, it’s at a price I am willing to pay, I’m not shopping around! I have spare time to get a coffee without the kids – bonus!

So by the time Sunday comes around and I’ve talked him into taking the place, emailed the realtor and thinking for 24 hours that we have found a place, she tells us on Monday that it’s been taken. Now I don’t blame my husband because if people were signing a lease on Monday it would have to have been drafted up and in the pipes as we were going through it on the Friday. Perhaps they let us through incase it all fell apart. It wasn’t ideal, but we got over the disappointment of it all. I just think it’s illustrates how different my husband and I are with our choices. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating, but I guess in the end we balance each other out.

It looks like our next choice of house is all going through fine. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we’ll be able to move in. Needless to say though when we saw this house and it ticked all the boxes we didn’t hesitate in ringing the realtor back after a couple of hours to confirm we wanted it!

Finally, some addresses/areas where I may or may not live due to their names

1. Coca-cola Drive
2. Sulphur Spring Rd
3. Brandywine and The Shire
4. Friendly
5. Kings Contrivance
6. Brokenland
7. Beaverkill Rd

Today brings no words, just a curiosity for who ever thought “Beaverkill rd” was a great street name.

House Hunting American Style.

The past week we’ve started looking at houses. American style house are very….American. I guess what I mean is they are quite big, neat and clean, wood-clad, (we’ve not seen many brick). Most have an Amercian flag flying out the front and people love to ornately decorate their front doorways.

In the old days which I fondly term B.C. (Before Children) I used to play The Sims. I would build houses and furnish them with the most outrageous furnishings and decorations. Well as we travel around viewing these houses I truly feel that sometimes I could be living in a Sims world! Things that I would collect and design in my games, such as turning circle driveways, water fountains in the manicured front yards, different wall paperings and grandiose styles were all appearing before my eyes.

This house that we’ve selected is as simolean as you could get. It has a faux tudor style front:

A grand dining area:

 

A kitchen with a cooker in it that is probably worth more than the whole entire contents of my Australian kitchen put together:

 

Theres an observatory style sitting room that spills onto a deck (plus another two lounge rooms):

 

Huge ensuite bathroom with a steamer/shower and spa bath and great bedroom sizes that you can swing several cats at a time in. And flat enough to set up a cricket pitch and bbq. Yes, these were essential on my husbands house checklist. (Yes I am rolling my eyes here).

All houses have a basement which shall be known in our household as the “mancave”. You have to puff out your chest and say it in an octave lower than needed, but yes, these great areas are a self contained flat, complete with bathroom, bar and bedroom or study rooms. I don’t know why this concept never really took off in Aus, but I do like the basements here. Great for visitors!

Choosing a house has been interesting. There’s a fine balance between having to entertain and needing a large space to do that (think 150 people for Australia day in the middle of winter) and small enough to still have a family feel and not just me running around tidying up forever. I am hoping this place we found today comes through. There was another place, but it didn’t work out – a story in itself perhaps in another post.

Today brings no words, just crossed fingers that the house we’ve found will soon be our little patch of Sims life.

Just Like I Saw in the Movies.

Some of my all time favourite movies are ones where the cities feature almost as large as the characters themselves. My all time favourite movie that basks in it’s American glory is You’ve Got Mail. I almost named my blog “the blog around the corner” in honour of it. In the movie there is a line where the character remembers his sweetheart, saying she had beautiful penmanship. This is something I also strive to achieve through blogging.

There are two movies that always make me think of Washington. The first is The American President (I’m a sucker for a romcom). All it’s little jokes about the city start to pop into my mind as we walk around the Whitehouse. It also appeals as the main characters name is Sydney Ellen Wade – like a would-be distant relative or cousin in some parrallel universe.

The other movie, which is not set in Washington, but has a scene set at the capitol reflection pool is Forrest Gump. You know the scene I am referring to. Where Forrest and Jenny run into the pool of reflection and embrace.

I also used to watch Bones on TV. The seasons before Temperance took everything quite so literally and she still had slightly more emotional intelligence than a piece of string. She’s having Booths baby now? When did that happen? Anyway I digress. Set in Washington, I loved how they used to have long indepth discussions on the steps of the Lincoln memorial and sipped coffee on the seats at the pool of reflection. This long strip is called the Capitol Mall and it is what flashes in my head when I think Washington. So you can imagine my disappointment to come across this scene when we get there:

Nooooooooooooooo! Drained due to construction.

Today brings no words, just a promise to myself to go back and see it as it should be.

Travelling in the Eyes of a 6 Year Old.

Dylan and I wrote this letter for his teacher and class. I would like to share it with you because it’s so interesting to see things through little peoples eyes.

Dear Mrs Leonard and 1m

I’ve seen lots of great and amazing things.

I went to the air and space museum. It has a funny name. It is called the Smithsonian. We saw lots of spaceships and planes that didn’t fly with pilots! I saw a cool blue and white Nasa space shuttle.

I went to see a big statue of Abraham Lincoln. He is important because he saved the union and he was the first president. The statue is very big.

This is the Whitehouse.

In our apartment we have a pool. It is summer here so it’s hot and we swim lots.

We visited the library. They have lots of superhero books and dvds. We borrowed books today.

It’s night time in America and daytime in Australia.

The aeroplane trip was long. I played alot of video games at night time. I had a chair that was like a bed. We flied to Los Angeles. It took a long time. I had my own side cupboard to put things in. The aeroplane lady gave me a smiggle pencil case with a pen and travel journal. I also watched TV on the plane.

Hamish got new monster trucks and I got a book with aeroplane models and a remote control helicopter.

American foods I’ve tried are pizza and spagetti, corn, bagels, snow cones and we also had spanish tapas and mexican food.

Love from
Dylan

For All Awesome Dads.

June 17th is Fathers Day here. So today’s post is about my wonderful dad. It’s not with intentions of him reading it. Many of you like myself have dads out there who don’t do the internet. He would say, well why would you want to write about me on the internet and what the hell is this blog thing? But I think many of you would identify with some of these dad traits so why not take a little time out to think about our dads.

Firstly, my dad is very smart. He thinks that to be smart you have to be able to read and write well, perform superdifficult mathematical equations or brain surgery. But he is a different type of smart. The entrepreneural, charismatic, organiser and leader smart. A man that can talk others into doing the reading and writing for him. I hope he hasn’t talked anyone into performing brain surgery on his behalf.

He doesn’t need Facebook, he has a very active real social network, which involves on a daily basis him having a steady stream of visitors dropping by. I guess in small towns it’s alot more common, but even in canberra I wouldn’t dream of doing a fly by visit without warning. But he’s always open for a cup of tea and a biscuit if he really likes you. Age is no barrier either. He can talk to anyone, on all levels older or younger and people (my sons included), just gravitate towards him.

He’s funny. Not in a dad-joke way (though he does have plenty of those up his sleeve), but quick on his feet funny. And if anyone tries to turn a joke on him, well be warned, he can give as good as he gets.

He is incredibly loyal, a proud dad and doating grandfather who just loves his family with every fibre of his being and that makes me smile. He’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but even when he’s driving me crazy I know he means well. I know that he cares about his family, kids, grandkids and he just wants to make sure that everyone is ok.

I wanted to finish this with a dad joke, but really we all get enough of those in our lifetime. Why inflict unnecessary pain.

Today brings no words, just Happy Fathers Day wishes if you are an American dad, or an honorary American dad such as my husband, or just anyone who is an awesome dad really.